North Korea and its recent anti-American stamps have created quite the stir in the media. Scott catalog new-issues editor Marty Frankevicz explores this phenomenon and offers some much-needed philatelic perspective.

The United States is one of 32 countries fielding national teams at the 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament taking place in Brazil June 12 through July 13. The only time the United States hosted the World Cup, which takes place once every four years, was 20 years ago, in 1994. Three stamps in panes of 20 and a three-stamp souvenir sheet (Scott 2834-2837) were issued then to commemorate the event, but the United States has not issued any World Cup stamps since.